First salmon!

Congratulations to Chris Plank who caught his first ever salmon on Tuesday. The fish, about 7lbs, was taken on an Ally's Shrimp at the tail of Rumbler. Well done Chris!

Report to 17 November

The fishing has been disappointing to say the least. Since the last report to end October, we have had 6 salmon and 2 sea trout. G Badland's party of 3 rods over 3 days had 2 salmon and a sea trout during the first 3 days of November, (best 12lb), Messrs Bain, Morrison and McDowell had 2, 1 and 1 fish respectively between 2-8 November. Mr Ritchie had a sea trout on 10 November and that has been it.

The water has been very unsettled, and it seems that fresh fish are there, but arriving in unpredictable pulses on the varying water levels.

End October update

                                          7lb sea trout (returned)

                                         15lb hen fish (safely returned, superficial dirt)

                                         Tail of Castlehaugh Cheek

                                         Tail of Nutwood on a frosty morning

Catches are unspectacular at the moment, about 10 fish to report since last update. 2 nice sea trout have been returned, best 7lb.

Other catches include a 5 pounder to Graeme Sutherland on the 17th  and 2 salmon to Hugh Dignon in high water on the 19th (6 & 10 lb),
David Muir took the biggest to date at 18lb on 23rd, only to be matched by Tom Borthwick with another 18lb fish 2 days later. Iain Bain managed a 12 lb fish on Friday 26th, Walter Davidson took a 15lb fish today and Mr Westberg visiting from Sweden had a fish of 4lb.

Changeable weather is forecast for the remainder of this week so it is dificult to predict what the river will do.

Report to 6 October

With light fishing pressure, there has been steady, if unspectacular catches. Water has been up and down constantly, on the few occasions it has settled, fish have been caught.

On 18 September, Nick Armstead had 2 fish from Rumbler and then on 21st Andy MacLauchlan had 2 sea trout from Nutwood and Rumbler.

Ian Bain took a grilse from Rumbler on 28 September and Brian Davidson had the beat's biggest so far with a 17 pounder from Rumbler (pictured above).

Mr Crawford had 3 fish on 2 October, from various pools, and on Saturday 6th October the beat produced 5 fish. Brian Davidson had a 6 pounder, Mr Bissett had 2 at 4lb and 6lb from Nutwood, and Mr Craig had a 10 pounder from Dirtpot. Iain Bain also took a nice fish of 12lb from Nutwood.

Prospects are good. There seem to be plenty of fish about, but there are very few showing; so do not be put off by lack of splashing fish. Despite the good water, there seems to be a paucity of fresh fish about, these will not be long in arriving as reports suggest new fish are now coming in further downriver, and at this time of year it does not take them long to arrive on Upper Tweed.

Good season so far......

Its been a good start to the fishing on Cardrona, with 10 fish now in the book and only half way through September. Fishing pressure has been light......water has been fairly high since the last report, with the water dropping down to summer level in the last week or so. Iain Bain has had most of the fish to date, finishing today with 3 small grilse.

Below are a couple of fish caught a few weeks ago, with one very fresh grilse.

The beat pools have all been strimmed with good access and exit points.

Given good water levels, the fishing will continue to pick up with more fish filling up the pools as we move into late September and October.

3 fish for week-ending 29 July

Water levels finally steadied off this week with the river falling from Tuesday. It has been an incredibly wet summer and the water has rarely been at a steady height for several months.

Three fish were caught this week - two salmon weighing around 5lbs each and a 5lb sea trout - the latter taken on a squirrel and blue. Prospects are good if the river does not fall away too much this coming week.

Ist fish for 2012!

Congratulations to Iain Bain with the first fish off Cardrona this year. A nice hen fish of 10-12lbs taken on a single hander set up fishing two single stoat tails. There were plenty more fish in evidence, so prospects look good for more early fish. The fish was of course returned, in line with the RTC spring fish conservation policy.

The policy is summarised below for anglers reference.

THE NEW MEASURES - IMPLEMENTATIONThese Measures apply from 2011 for the period 1st February to 30th June each year on the whole of the Tweed catchment.

* Anglers must return ALL Salmon caught up to the end of June, unharmed, to the water.

* Fish caught after 30th June should be returned if they are not fresh and therefore likely to be Spring stock.

* •Anglers returning Salmon before 30th June may order a ‘Spring Salmon’ shirt from The Tweed Foundation by making a donation – see details under ‘Claims’ section.